


Don We Now Our Gay

by Rynmaru



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Christmas Fluff, M/M, Modern Highschool AU, Shenanigans, slight jeanmarco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 10:14:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17160131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rynmaru/pseuds/Rynmaru
Summary: Christmas is fast approaching yet somehow, in the midst of all the hustle and bustle, Reiner still finds a way to be a gay disaster.





	Don We Now Our Gay

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, Tony!

The holiday rush seemed to creep up on Reiner as it always did. One day he was studying for midterms and the next it was the first week of December and he was working the register at the sporting goods store in the Libero shopping center. Not that he really minded the opportunity for extra hours. That just meant more money for him and good deals on Christmas gifts for his friends. Besides that, Reiner loved the general holiday vibe of the shopping center, from the excessive use of garlands and potted poinsettias to the Christmas music blasting through the speakers. All in all, he enjoyed working this time of year.

“I told you I wanted to return this!” 

Well. Most of the time he enjoyed it. 

“And I already told you, ma’am, that we don’t take returns of clothing that was bought over Black Friday. We had everything clearly labeled telling you so that day,” Reiner said, face carefully arranged into an apologetic expression that did not mirror his internal exasperation at all. 

“I want to speak to the manager about this.” The agitated woman snapped. 

“Sure. You’ll have to go to the customer service desk on the other side of the store.” Reiner pointed her in the right direction and, with a cold glare, the woman stormed off, shopping cart clattering loudly long after racks of jerseys and sweatpants blocked her from view. 

“Merry Christmas!” Reiner called after her. 

“Merry Christmas!” A voice imitated from behind him and he turned to see Porco leaning on the counter and shaking his head. “You can cut the friendly bullshit with people like that, you know.” 

Reiner shrugged. “Saying it makes me feel happy. Besides, I want to keep my job. I don’t think I have your dumb luck when it comes to avoiding trouble.” 

“Luck has nothing to do with it.” Porco scoffed. 

“I say it’s pretty lucky that our manager is the one person on earth who doesn’t know what weed smells like so you can get stoned over your break without any trouble.” 

“I don’t get stoned!” Porco protested. 

Reiner snorted, “You consistently told customers to have a nice day, you’re only ever that nice when you’re high as a kite. And you get all emotional too. Need I remind you of the soulful rendition of Mariah Carrey’s-“ 

“No, no you don’t. I remember, shut up.” Porco groaned. “You’ve made your point, asshole.” 

“You love me~” 

“Fuck you.” 

“Um...excuse me…?” A hesitant voice spoke from behind Reiner and he turned quickly with a smile to attend to the waiting customer. His smile morphed into slack-jawed staring as he saw the person before him, a tall young man with dusky skin, thick brown hair falling just above his jade green eyes. He offered a shy smile and set his purchases on the counter. 

“Can you help me with these? And help me find another gift?” 

Reiner struggled to form words and then Porco pushed him forward. “Yeah, my friend here will help you out.” 

Reiner gave in a nearly frantic look, the last thing he wanted was to be left alone with this gorgeous stranger and make a complete fool of himself. Porco gave him a furtive double thumbs up and a shit-eating grin as he hurried away to the back. Swallowing hard, Reiner looked back and managed a smile again. 

“Hey...um...here I can put these items back here so you won’t lose them and then help you find whatever else you need.” He took the purchases from the man, tucking them safely out of sight behind the counter. 

“Now, what are you still looking for?” 

The man fidgeted with the edge of his turtleneck sweater. “I’m looking for some shoes. Nothing fancy, just ones that’ll wear well for running.” 

Reiner nodded. “We’ve got plenty of shoes, I’ll try to find what you need, Mr…?” 

“Oh, Bertholt. I mean...that’s my first name. You don’t need to call me “Mr.” anything.” Bertholt said. 

“Okay. Follow me then, Bertholt.” Reiner winced as he mangled the pronunciation, but Bertholt was gracious enough not to correct him and simply followed quietly as Reiner led him to the shoe section of the store and began sorting through the various brands. 

“We’ve got Nike, Jordans, Adidas...here, what shoe size are you, I’ll find them.” 

“Thanks…” Bertholt said, biting his lip. “I’m size eleven.” 

“Oh? Well you know what they say about big feet-“ Reiner cut himself off a little too late, his whole face going red as he saw Bertholt looking uncomfortable. 

“I-it means it’s harder to find shoes that fit!” Reiner blurted out, turning away and grabbing some options for Bertholt. “Here, try these on. Call me if you need anything, I...I’ll be over there…” He pointed towards the end of the aisle and hurried down there, cursing himself for being so lax and crude. 

“Um...sorry but uh…” Bertholt’s voice caused Reiner to turn. He looked awkward, the shoe boxes piled in his arms and an embarrassed expression on his face. “Is...is there any chance that you have something...more affordable…? Like...like Sketchers…?” 

Reiner got a sinking feeling of guilt in his gut as he heard that. “Oh...oh I...I can check but those are usually in the kid’s section…” 

Bertholt nodded, placing the other boxes back where they belonged. 

“It’s fine. I’ll look somewhere else. I’d like to buy everything else now.” He started walking towards the front again and Reiner hastened to follow. 

He went behind the counter and began ringing up in the purchases and bagging them, brow furrowed. 

“Right, need anything else? If you spend over a hundred dollars you can get a twenty percent discount…” Reiner trailed off in his habitual drone, embarrassed again. 

“I think I’ll pass…” Bertholt murmured. 

Reiner nodded, printing a receipt and stuffing it in the bag before handing everything over. 

“Thanks for shopping, and have a merry Christmas.” 

Bertholt gave him a slight smile and nodded, turning away and leaving. “Bye…” 

Reiner watched him go, embarrassment weighing heavily on him. 

“So how’d it go?” 

He whirled to see Porco peering out from the break room nearby. 

“Terribly. I was awkward, made a joke about the size of his dick, and made him uncomfortable about the fact that he’s clearly not got a lot of money to spend.” Reiner groaned, sitting down on a stool and putting his head in his hands. 

Porco looked mildly impressed. “Wow. I had no idea you’d mess up that badly. Everyone knows Bertholt’s family’s poor. I thought even you’d know that!” 

Reiner looked up. “How did you know his name?” 

“You can’t be serious? You didn’t recognize him?” 

“No…” Reiner grew worried. “Should I have?” 

Porco laughed. “Dude, he’s in our class! Transferred in this semester after a year being homeschooled.” 

Reiner let out a groan and slumped against the counter. “Oh my god...I’m so stupid how did I miss that?!” 

“Beats me,” Porco laughed. “But hey, at least you can make it up to him. He’ll probably be going to the class Christmas party tonight. You can apologize to him then.” 

Reiner sighed heavily. “Yeah…” 

He looked up as a swarm of customers approached the counter and got up, he and Porco both taking their places at their respective registers. 

\---------

“And would you believe it? He actually didn’t recognize the guy! Man spends a whole semester in the same class as him but doesn’t recognize him when he’s smitten at first sight!” 

Reiner listened gloomily to Porco’s animated retelling of the ill fated adventure with Bertholt at the class party, nursing a glass of eggnog as his friends roared with laughter 

“Man, you screwed this up.” Jean grinned, patting Reiner’s back in a gesture of consolation. “I can’t believe you didn’t recognize him!” 

“I can’t either! How did I miss someone that good looking for so long?!” 

Marco smiled over his cup of hot chocolate. “To be fair, I overlooked Jean for all of freshmen and sophomore year.” 

“That doesn’t count, Marco. We’re talking about missing attractive people.” Porco grinned as Jean punched him hard in the arm. 

“I wouldn’t worry about it, Reiner.” Pieck said. “Bertholt’s a sweet guy...he’ll understand.” 

“Yeah...I hope you’re right…” Reiner sighed. 

He took a sip of his drink as movement towards the door leading to the front hall caught his eye. He looked over to see Bertholt removing his scarf and jacket and hanging them up, stomping snow off his boots on the doormat. Reiner sucked his head and tried to make his large frame smaller. 

“Jean! Hide me!” He whispered. Jean glanced at the door and rolled his eyes. 

“Easier said than done, man...bite the bullet and just speak to him. Get it over with.” 

Reiner took a deep breath. “Okay...okay, you’re right.” He set his glass aside and stood. “I can do this.” 

He began walking towards Bertholt when Annie reached the tall boy first and engaged him in conversation, causing Reiner to abruptly veer left, inserting himself awkwardly into a conversation with Connie and Sasha, all while remaining acutely aware of Bertholt’s presence just a few feet away. 

And so the night went on, with Reiner’s attempts at getting Bertholt alone to talk being thwarted by others or by him losing his nerve at the last minute. As the party began winding down, Reiner slipped out to the front hall, trying to muster the energy for one last go of it. 

“Just be cool. Be casual. Ask him if he wants a drink.” He cleared his throat. “‘Hey, Bertholt, want something to drink?” No...sounds like I’m singling him out too much...um…”Bertholt, I was just heading to the kitchen, want a refill?” Yeah...yeah that sounds better.” 

“Um excuse me…?” 

Reiner closed his eyes in a moment of dismay as he recognized the voice, turning and managing an awkward smile at Bertholt. “H-hey...need something…?” 

“Um...well I just...was wondering the same thing about you…” Bertholt admitted, hugging himself a bit, though Reiner couldn’t tell if it was from cold or insecurity. “You seemed to be trying to talk to me tonight but never got the chance. I wanted to catch you before you left…” 

“Oh...yeah I did want to talk to you…” Reiner said. He stepped closer, away from the chill creeping in under the door. In the dim light Bertholt’s skin had a golden undertone, making him seem warm and friendly, his dark eyebrows drawn together in a touching expression of concern, lips parted slightly as he breathed. He was even more handsome up close. 

“So...what did you want to talk about?” Bertholt asked. 

Reiner’s cheeks burned as he realized his staring had not gone unnoticed. 

“I...I just wanted to say that...I’m sorry. For earlier I mean. I acted really weird and I wasn’t trying to freak you out or insult you...I was insensitive and annoying and I’m sorry. I must have made a really bad impression on you…” 

He looked down, seeing his own faint, distorted reflection in the puddles of melted snow on the tile floor, awaiting Bertholt’s response. 

He was surprised to hear a faint laugh, looking up to see Bertholt quickly covering his mouth. 

“I’m sorry! It’s just...you didn’t need to apologize at all. You were really helpful...I know you’re not a bad person, Reiner. I’ve seen you in school, you’re very sweet.” He said warmly. “I figured you were just having an off day. You have nothing to apologize for.” 

Reiner relaxed. “Really?” 

“Really.” Bertholt smiled. “You were really helpful actually, I appreciate you trying to find those running shoes for me.” 

Reiner lit up. “Oh! About those, I looked in the back after work and I found a pair of the brand you wanted in your size! I placed them on hold so if you want to come in and pick them up sometime soon you can. Unless you’re busy with Christmas plans.” 

“Actually I’m not.” Bertholt said. “I’m Jewish so I’ve got plenty of time right around Christmas.” 

“Oh. Okay then.” Reiner nodded. “Well...I work on Wednesday from seven to noon if you want to swing by then. I can use my employee discount to take the price down more if you want.” 

“I’d really appreciate that, thank you.” Bertholt said. “If I come around noon...think you’d be up for getting something to eat afterwards?” 

Reiner lit up. “I’d love to! I know a great place! Oh, I’ll check to make sure they serve things you can eat though. Kosher?” 

“Kosher.” Bertholt confirmed with a nod. “Thanks, Reiner.” 

Reiner nodded, grinning. “Sure thing.” 

A loud wolf whistle sounded from the other room and they both looked over to see Jean smirking at them and others crowding around to peer in, eyes fixed on something above their heads. Reiner looked up and groaned as he saw the green leaves and white berries of mistletoe taped to the ceiling above them. 

“Kiss him!” Porco called to Reiner, giving him a double thumbs up. 

Reiner laughed, face red as he flipped Porco off. Bertholt reached up and pulled the mistletoe down, shaking his head with a shy smile, slipping it into his pocket. 

“Maybe later.” He murmured so only Reiner could hear. 

Reiner’s eyes went wide and a huge smile spread across his face. He followed after Bertholt quickly, heart lifted and spirits high. 

Happy holidays indeed…


End file.
